News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

Garda Inspector Denis Joyce told the Donegal Democrat that two men, not thought to be from the local area, called into The Central Hotel at around 8:30 a.m.

“One of the men told an employee at reception that his girlfriend had lost a ring in the ladies’ toilet,” said Inspector Joyce.

“When the employee accompanied the man to check for the ring, the other man went into the back office and took a substantial sum of money.”
[Source: Donegal Democrat]

DOWN

Work is underway to clear one of Bangor's largest derelict eyesores.

The vacated site of a former young offenders center in the County Down town was left untouched for years.

Known locally as Rathgael, the old juvenile justice center is finally being torn to the ground.

The 65-acre site has been blighted by problems – vandalism, anti-social behavior, thefts and dozens of deliberate fires.
[Source: BBC News]

DUBLIN

Gardaí (police) are probing whether Ireland's latest murder victim was stabbed to death because of a small drugs debt. Gerard Burnett (28) was stabbed in a frenzied knife attack outside his partner Denise Farrell Daly's home at Castlecurragh Vale in Mulhuddart, just before midnight last Tuesday.

Gardaí are hunting for a three-man gang who were involved in the shocking incident which led to Mr. Burnett being stabbed more than 10 times.
[Source: Evening Herald]

FERMANAGH

For one Enniskillen student who received his A-Level results on August 16, a different kind of challenge awaits.

Eighteen-year-old John Currie – a former St. Michael’s College pupil –headed to America last Wednesday, having received a scholarship to study at Wingate in North Carolina.

“I was reading up at the beginning of last year of a footballer who was released from Watford’s academy, and went on a scholarship to America,” said John.

“He described it as being the next best thing to being a professional footballer, and that just stuck with me. Training six days a week, travelling around America playing matches and the opportunities that it brings with it was just something I couldn’t turn down. To play football every day is all I have ever wanted to do, and this allows me to do so.”
[Source: Fermanagh Herald]

GALWAY

Turf-cutters returned to the scene of a June stand-off last Tuesday to reassert their right to work on a raised bog in Co. Galway where cutting has been deemed “illegal” under E.U. Habitats Directives since the start of this year.

Over 50 cutters and their supporters resumed work at Clonmoylan Bog, near Woodford, last Tuesday morning and cut enough fuel for five local families in open defiance of the SAC (Special Area of Conservation) designations.

They sourced machinery from another location after a digger belonging to a local machine operator had been burned out in mysterious circumstances during the stand-off in June – the burnt-out digger remains in place at Clonmoylan.
[Source: Galway Bay FM]
KERRY

Kerry are now poised to confirm Eamonn Fitzmaurice as their new senior football manager and, with that, promote Darragh Ó Sé as new under-21 football manager – both appointments to be merely rubber-stamped by the county board last Monday night.

Fitzmaurice has already been disclosed as the first-choice recommendation of the county management sub-committee, charged with finding a successor to Jack O’Connor – and the Kerry County Board has never gone against such a recommendation.
[Source: Irish Times]

KILDARE

A Newbridge family was hit by tragedy two weekends ago when an accidental fall in a local nightclub took the life of a father of three.

Derek Phelan of Roseberry, Newbridge, died after falling down some steps at Swift’s on Main Street in the early hours of August 19.

The 46-year-old man, who is a native of the area, was found by other customers at the bottom of the stairs at around 2 a.m. and he is believed to have died at the scene.

His remains were removed to Naas General Hospital where a postmortem examination was carried out last Monday to determine the exact cause of death.
[Source: Kildare Nationalist]
KILKENNY

The Irish roots of U.S. vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan have been traced to County Kilkenny, and in fact some of his relations have already visited the county to see their ancestral homeland.

With the revelations in Irish media two weekends ago that the great-great-grandparents of Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate lived near Graignamanagh and were married in the parish, it has also emerged that Mr. Ryan’s uncle paid a visit to the parish back in 2010.

Bill Ryan and his wife visited the county at the time and were received informally by then-mayor Martin Brett. They also visited Rothe House and the Graignamanagh area.
[Source: Kilkenny People]